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    Computers & Operations Research
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Special Issue on “Metaheuristics for control algorithms of robotic systems”

[Apologies for cross-posting]

Metaheuristics have become more and more useful to resolve a large variety of optimization problems. Indeed, we can find the use of these techniques in many fields such as image processing, routing problems or robotics. The reason is that the formulation of many problems has become very complex and we need to take into account a lot of constraints. Intelligent robotic systems, irrespective of their type - mobile robots, manipulator robots, wearable robots or humanoid robots - have become faster and accurate in task execution. In most cases, the exact dynamical model cannot be determined by the use of the classical techniques of modelling. Furthermore, when the considered robotic system has no constant dynamics, it is necessary to provide a solution to overcome that situation and guarantee satisfactory performances relative to a given task execution. Metaheuristics constitute a good solution to maintain the dynamics used in the control algorithm design as close as possible to the real dynamics of the system. The objective function is chosen based on the performances we seek through the use of each considered robotic system. Moreover, these optimization tools can be used for motion planning or to design robust control algorithms without recourse to any knowledge about the system dynamics. Such kind of situations concerns, for example, the exoskeletons that can be worn by human subjects having different morphologies.

By the choice of operations research techniques, this special issue deals with the methodology for determining viable solutions to problems related to the safety and the health of humans by the design of intelligent systems well controlled. The kind of papers we seek must contain original research results. They should demonstrate constructive algorithmic complexity and extensive numerical experiments having an important scientific value compared to other techniques. Furthermore, all proposed research works should represent a novel and significant contribution with respect to the relevant literature. Through this proposal, we intend to organize a special session on the field of robot control by using metaheuristics, which include significant results from theory and practice. The goal of this special issue is to provide a premier forum for researchers to present their recent research results. It offers an important opportunity for multidisciplinary work. 

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) based adaptive/robust control algorithms • Genetic approaches based adaptive/robust control algorithms • PSO based motion planning • Genetic algorithms based motion planning • PSO/Genetic approaches based human intention detection/classification • PSO controller algorithms based imitation • Genetic algorithms based Brain Machine Interface (BMI) • PSO/Genetic algorithms based identification/approximation • Operations research tools coupled with other tools (artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic, etc.)

Authors can submit their papers any time after June 1st, 2015 and up until the 30th September 2015. 

Online submission can be found here: http://ees.elsevier.com/cor/ When asked to choose article type, please stipulate ‘SI: Metaheuristics & robotics’. 
All submissions should meet Computers & Operations Research author guidelines.

Expected number of pages (in two-column format) • Minimum: 8 pages • Maximum: 12 pages

Refereeing process
All papers will be reviewed by three independent reviewers. No page charges.

Important dates
• Paper submission start : June 1, 2015
• Paper submission deadline : September 30, 2015 • First round of revision: February 15, 2016 • Expected publication date: June, 2016

Guest editors
• Boubaker Daachi, CNRS-AIST Joint Robotics Laboratory, UMI3218/CRT, Tsukuba, Japan. E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Patrick Siarry, LiSSi Laboratory, Université Paris-Est Créteil, France. E-mail: [log in to unmask]